Elspeth watched from the shadows as they gently laid hands on the prisoner. Her heart thumped madly in her ears as the first man took note of the strip of her skirt holding her poultice close to his wound.
Seemingly forgetting the evidence of her hidden presence, he spoke quietly to the others and then watched as they lifted him in their arms.
“Damn it, Logan,” said the second man with the pistol, “how could ye get caught?”
“Thank the Good Lord we found ye,” another Highlander said. He was brutish and bulky with dark hair and beard and carried his friend under his arm without help from anyone else. “Though, ye know we would have burned every Presbyterian village to the ground to find ye.”
Elspeth nearly went down in a faint. The village…her home.
“Aye,” the first man agreed, and returned his attention to the bloody rag and basin of water, the chains and post dangling from the high wall.
Watching from the shadows, Elspeth was certain her heart was about to burst out of her chest.
“And fer takin’ care of our enemies withoot us havin’ to lift our swords,” said the one with the pistol.
Horribly, it was she who they should thank for that. She closed her eyes, trying to stop herself from being ill. She’d put the guards to sleep. The village was without protection because of her! Her family—!
She almost rushed out. It took every ounce of strength she possessed to wait until the men left the dungeon with their friend.
The instant they were gone, she raced to the stairs. She didn’t make it far when something smashed into the back of her head and sent her sprawling onto the hard ground.
Above her, a man’s laughter echoed through her ears just before the world went black.
*
She woke sometimelater and sat up. Her head pounded. Who had struck her? She had run out too soon and one of the cursed Highlanders hit her.
She sniffed the air, once, twice…Was that smoke? She cried out. Their enemies had truly come; they had come and set her home on fire; the ones her father had always protected her from. They were the reason he didna let her wed. Any man could use her to get to him. But he never mentioned who the enemies were and they had never appeared, making his warnings after so many years of peace, less believable.
But here they were. They had finally come, and she had put Dunley’s protection to sleep while their enemies lit the keep and the village on fire. Nae! How would she ever live with it?
She sprinted up the stairs with her face shoved into the crook of her elbow to keep smoke out of her nose. She burst into her parents’ chamber. It was empty. Her brothers’ as well.
She raced outside and then ducked behind one of the sheds. Her eyes saw the things of her nightmares. Her younger brother, Padrig, lying in the dirt.
Elspeth’s heart stopped. Padrig. Nae. She felt faint and began to sob, not caring what would happen to her if she was found.
For a moment, Elspeth thought about going after them, finding out who the men were and avenging her brother.
But she had to find her parents and her older brother, Roderick.
While the keep burned behind her, she searched amid the embers until she came to the bodies of her parents. She fell to her knees and held them both to her chest, for they died close to each other, as if her father had known they would die at thatmoment. Her brother Roderick’s body was close to theirs. Nae! Nae! It was her fault! All that Highlander’s fault. He must have done something terrible indeed to make her father capture him and treat him so poorly. She should never have tried to help him. If he hadn’t been here, his barbaric friends would not have come to find him.
She screamed out in anguish and swore to avenge what their enemies had done—whatshehad done.
Whoever the prisoner’s clansmen were, she would find out and kill them. She would kill them all, even if it cost her her life. She would begin with him. Logan.
While she clutched her parents to her chest, she realized that she was completely alone. What would she do? Where would she go? Who would protect her, feed her, clothe her?
She heard the sound of someone walking, coming near. She spun around and came face to face with another man she had never seen before. Who would help her? Who would save her?
She looked around. Screaming would do no good. She was alone.
When he reached her, the man swung his fist into her jaw.
She fell over with a single thought. Death. Death to them, whoever they were. No compassion, no mercy. Not ever.
*
